Wall Street Applauds as GM Adopts EV Charging Technology from Tesla

Adam Clark
Jun 09, 2023
According to a Thursday announcement, General Motors will join Ford in using Tesla's charging connector standard in North American, granting GM electric vehicle customers access to Tesla Supercharger system.
Wall Street Applauds as GM Adopts EV Charging Technology from Tesla

According to a Thursday announcement, General Motors will join Ford in using Tesla's charging connector standard in North American, granting GM electric vehicle customers access to Tesla Supercharger system.


Three of the main EV vendors in the market of North American are now in agreement on the same standard for the charging hardware thanks to GM's move, which comes after Ford made a similar choice to support Tesla's charging connector standard. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, jointly announced the arrangement at a Twitter Spaces session.


Investors praised the agreement and the idea of a single standard for charging hardware in the market of North American. Following the bell, GM and Tesla shares both increased by more than 4%.


Significant ramifications for business and public policy result from the collaboration of the three top competitor US EV producers.


For corporations to be qualified to receive billions of dollars in government support for new electric vehicle charging facilities on around 7,500 miles of the country's busiest roads, the administration of Vice President Joe Biden made implementation of a competing  CCS - "combined charging system"  standard a prerequisite. The White House's policy is put into question by the cooperation of Tesla, Ford and GM.


Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, stated to CNBC in May, following the Ford-Tesla merger, that the industry would eventually come together on a single system, however, adapters would make it possible for cross-use.


In the United States, sales of EVs are currently dominated by Tesla, Ford and GM. Industry officials believe that the wide consumer acceptance of electric vehicles is hampered by the different EV charging ports.


During his talk with Barra on Twitter Spaces, Musk stated that he thinks it will be a really great thing towards the growth of electric vehicles.  Barra also believes  that everything will just be better.


According to Barra, in an interview with CNBC on Thursday, GM might save $400 million as a result of the arrangement.


From the perspective of the consumer, Tesla's agreements with the Detroit automakers appear to be successful because the company made significant investments to spread its unique fast-charging infrastructure across North America while the majority of rival manufacturers outsourced charging.


Approximately 60% of all fast chargers in the US and Canada are Tesla Superchargers, according to data from the US Department of Energy.


Chris Harto, a policy analyst for Consumer Reports, stated that this is pretty significant, and he could see this having a bit of a snowball effect as a growing number of automakers jumped on board and embraced the Tesla standard.


For Ford and GM, the agreements represent a bet that the advantages of granting their consumers access to Tesla's huge network of rapid charging stations outweigh the dangers of those customers falling in love with Tesla and making that brand their next choice of vehicle.


Other automakers as well as individual charging network providers that have accepted the CCS standard are under pressure as a result of the cooperation between Tesla, Ford and GM. If the US adopts Tesla's standard, it may be challenging for competing charging station companies that have already opened offices there to provide CCS-compliant equipment.


In reference to Tesla's Charging Standard in North America, David Whiston from Morningstar Research noted that this does make it a lot possible that NACS will ultimately prevail in North America against CCS. In order to serve Tesla, GM and Ford vehicles, he added, other charging stations might continue with the CCS standard and depend on adapters.


In trading after hours, stocks of charging providers ChargePoint and EVgo both fell by over 4% on Thursday.


GM announced that beginning in 2025, it will provide EVs with plugs according to the Tesla Charging Standard design in North America. There will be adapters made available so that current GM EV owners can utilize the 12,000 Tesla fast chargers available in North America.


As more competing automakers utilize the Supercharger network, Musk stated that Tesla will not do anything to favor Teslas. It's going to be a fair playing field and the most important point is that the electric vehicle revolution is carried forward.

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